An electrical connector as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,335, includes two parallel rows of electrical contacts. The contacts of a plug version of the connector resiliently engage those of a receptacle version, when the two versions are interfitted. The contacts of each version have wire-receiving portions each in the form of a resilient plate having a slot. A conductor of the cable is trimmed and inserted into the slot, with the sides of the slot providing jaws which slice through the insulation of the conductor and resiliently engage the wire of the conductor. Suitable apparatus have been developed for trimming and inserting the conductors into the contacts. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,803,695; 3,864,802; and 3,995,358. Each apparatus requires an operator to grasp a pair of wires and insert them into the apparatus. Subsequently, the apparatus is actuated, either manually, or automatically upon sensing the presence of the inserted wires, to trim the wires and transfer the trimmed wires into the contacts of the connector. One type of apparatus requires all conductor pairs in the apparatus before mass insertion of the conductors simultaneously in the contacts. Another type is automatically triggered by sensing each pair of conductors to trim and insert the pair into a pair of corresponding contacts. While an operator is in the process of selecting and locating the next pair of conductors, the apparatus has automatically moved, relative to the connector, into registration with additional contacts with which the next pair of conductors is to be connected.
The object of each newly developed apparatus is to decrease the time required to connect all the conductors to the connector contacts. One time consuming task has been the requirement for anchoring the cable to the connector, to prevent tension on the cable from dislodging one or more conductors from their connections with the contacts. A self-latching strap or tie, provides the anchor in one early version. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,051. Another version utilizes a U-shaped clamp which receives a plug having ratchet teeth which interlock with teeth on the U-shaped clamp as the plug is ratcheted into the open end of the clamp to engage the cable. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,330. Still another version requires a single piece metal clamp preassembled onto the connector. The clamp includes a pair of spaced apart jaws, which receive the cable therebetween, and which are bent toward each other to grip the cable. The present invention provides a tool having a mechanism for holding the cable between the clamp jaws and for closing the jaws on the cable, so that the cable is anchored to the connector during and after connection of the conductors to the connector contacts.